Sunday, September 30, 2012

Here is an
installation with lots of Aurifil thread spools at the entry to the Espace
Commercial, which I found interesting. What an idea!

Besides the
Canadian exhibition «Tradition in Transition» I got to see the results of the
contest, of course.

The Jury, after picking "best of show": Linda Colsh, Libby Lehman, and I (from left)

However,
because all the quilts are pictured in the catalogue, I did not take any photos
besides the one of the winner of ‘best of show’, “Remembering” by Linda
Kemshall.

"Remembering" by Linda Kemshall, best of show Carrefour Européenne 2012

I also got
to see Kumiko Frydl’s stunning show of little pieces, “Perfect piecing”, which
left me full of admiration and awe. Kumiko’s quilts are usually not any larger than
40cm/16 inch on each side, yet display the full richness in details as would
befit a fully sized King Size quilt. Absolutely fascinating.

I also went
to the Place des Tisserands for a stop at SAQA's Wide Horizons III and at Libby
Lehman’s exhibition. In Libby’s show I found it highly interesting to see the
development she has made – there are thirty years between “Red Sky in the
Morning” (1982) and “Ribbonplay” (2011).

Libby Lehman, "Red Sky at Morning", 1982

Libby Lehman, "Ribbon Play", 2011

My favorite
in Wide Horizons was Margaret Ramsay’s “Weymouth Waves”.

Margaret Ramsay, "Weymouth Waves", 2012

That’s a degree of ‘pictorial quilt’ that I can really
connect to. This time the Wide Horizons is supposed to travel through Europe for the next year. It will be shown in Vicanza in
October, and SAQA and Carrefour are still working on finding additional venues.
If you get a chance to see it, you should definitely take it!

This is the
last report of what quilts I got to see in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines. As I wanted to
be present at my own exhibition as much as possible I did not venture into the
other villages more than once – and ended before a church closed for mass.

Being there
with an exhibition keeps one busy enough that seeing other people’s exhibitions
is not on the top priority position for those days. But it was a wonderful and
rewarding experience. Thank you very much to Gul LaPorte, who invited me in the
first place, and to Sylvie Leroux for her professional management of the
artists’s concerns and needs, and to Dinah for her kindness and expertise in
managing the contest and the jury!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

With my
exhibition at Ste. Marie-aux-Mines so much at the forefront of my mind I have
totally neglected to point out the beginning of the SAQA Benefit Auction, which has
already been on for almost two weeks. But it is not too late to bid. One more
week of reverse auction is starting tomorrow.

You can
find a description of how it all works here. And the auction bidding form here.

But of
course I hope you will bid early on, to help raise good money for SAQA. And
please don’t bid only on mine – there are several other very beautiful pieces
on page 3b! (I think I have been lucky to be placed in such good company.)

Friday, September 21, 2012

As I was
mostly bound up with my own personal exhibition in the Eglise St. Louis I did
not have a whole lot of time to go around and see other exhibitions. But I did
get a chance to run over to the Eglise de la Madeleine where the invited
countries usually have their venue. Two years ago it was the German Guild, and
I was represented in that show with two of my quilts. This year it was Canada, with a
beautiful and impressing show curated by Sandra Reford. (Read her blog here and find herhomepage here.)

Curator Sandra Reford explaining the exhibition to visitors.

The theme
of the exhibition was “Tradition in Transition”. It was meant to show the
diversity of Canadian quilt making these days, oscillating between traditional
patterns and methods and modern approaches and designs. All of this with a
number of quilters from across the entire country, from Prince Edward Island to the West Coast.

Unfortunately, this church really suffered from relatively poor lighting, and
photos did not turn out very well.

JudithMartin’s work “Energy Cloth” is covered with a lot of embroidery stitches that
add another layer of texture to the piece overall, and have a definite effect
on the coloring of the wholecloth batik.

Judith Martin, "Energy Cloth"

Judith Martin, "Energy Cloth", Detail

On the edge
between traditional and modern is Kate Busby’s “3600 (Beats)” (on the right
of the picture). Next to that is “Aglow” by Anna Hergert.

More on the
traditional side, but still with a rather unusual slight twist is “Nine Patch
Minuet” by Penelope Player. Sandra Reford told me that Penelope is a third generation quilter, without a website. I love such a modern interpretation of traditional patterns.

Penelope Player, Nine Patch Minuet

What I
liked most in the entire exhibition, though, were two pieces that weren’t
quilts at all. Sandra Reford told me that she chose both of these artists because they use quilting techniques in other dimensions of textile art. One of them is Chung-Im Kim’s three-dimensional felt
sculpture “Dawn”, which you need to look at from many different directions in
order to fully appreciate its entire beauty.

Chung-Im Kim,"Dawn", viewed from a sideways angle

Chung-Im Kim,"Dawn", viewed from front

The other
one is “Accumulate” by Amanda McCavour. This piece in particular suffered greatly from the poor
lighting in the church, and really should have been hung freely from the
ceiling instead against a wall.

Amanda McCavour, "Accumulate"

Amanda McCavour, "Accumulate", Detail

Sandra Reford had told me that she did not really go for pictorial quilts and that, of course, her selection was a very personal one. But it was an exhibition very much to my liking - lots of piecing, a good mixture of traditional and modern interpretations. I was very glad to have chosen and seen it.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

After I had
been busy Wednesday morning hanging my show, I was pleased with the final
result and the appearance of „my“ side of the church.

The other
side was occcupied by Regula Affolter from Switzerland and her „Interpretations
of human bodies and blue brains“, an interesting series on brain patterns, head
shapes and other radiological phenomena.

In the
afternoon my next round in jury-commitments called: we still had to determine
the first prize winner of the contest „Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow“. Together
with president of the jury Libby Lehman and Linda Colsh I got to see the entire
exhibition of the chosen pieces in advance at the Chapelle Saint Joseph. We
quickly agreed that the quilt which had received the single highest number of
points in the individual rounds of judging was actually worthy of receiving
„Best of Show“.

"Remembering" by Linda Kemshall, recipient of "Best of Show" at this year's contest at the Carrefour

I slept very badly in the night before Thursday – too
excited...

People were already
standing in front of the gates of the Espace commerciale when I was heading towards
the church just after nine o’clock, and the first visitors entered the church
at ten past nine – official opening time of the exhibit was 9:30!

After that the entire day was a constant stream of visitors.

Friday was
very busy as well, but slighly fewer visitors on Saturday and even less on
Sunday.

I can’t say
how often I had to verify that my lines are not appliquéd, and that yes, these
lines can be sewn, and with a machine. It seems this was just very hard to
believe for most people who were there. And several thousand pictures were
taken, I can’t even guess how many they actually were.

It was
wonderful to hear so much praise and receive so much admiration for what I had
worked on for so long. And I was particularly pleased to meet Lucia Stacchetti of the „Quilt Triennale“, Cathy Izzo and Dale Riehl of the Art Quilt Gallery in New York City, and last but not least the American Art
Quilt Collector Jack Walsh, all of whom took the time to stop by and take a
look at my exhibition.

On Sunday things
turned more quiet, and as I had time to actually sit down on my chair I spent
some time looking at Play of Lines XXX and XXIV: Tangle hanging right next to each
other. And I started doodling with the thought how either of these two
could be improved.

Or parts of them could even be combined to form an entirely new set of lines.

Perhaps a new combination of lines?

So I
returned home with several ideas already churning in my head. It’s just a problem of
increasing the number of hours per day so I can get everything finished, given
all the other things that have been put off for so long and are now waiting to
be taken care of.

Monday, September 17, 2012

After all these
weeks of preparations and the diverse moments of panic inbetween the actual
departure for Ste. Marie-aux-Mines last Wednesday was surprisingly uneventful.
The car was packed quickly, and I could have fit in even a few more quilts.

After a
close to seven-hour-drive through what felt like six hours of construction
sites on the German Autobahn and a heavy rainstorm during the last thirty
kilometres

I arrived on time to meet Dinah, Sylvie Leroux and Gul LaPorte for
preparatory consultations about proceedings for hanging the next day.

My
exhibition site, the Eglise St. Louis was already set up and waiting for my
arrival.

I even had
almost no difficulties finding my accomodation. Ste. Marie-aux-Mines is not
exactly blessed with a multitude of hotels, and people have taken to opening
their homes for guests during the Carrefour, and the Mineral Fair in June, the
city’s other major event during the year. I had the honor of being put up in
the Chateau that I had been admiring the last time I was here.

It has a view
across the entire valley.

Though to
reach it, an adventurous mind in definitely helpful: two kilometres of unpaved
single lane road uphill through the forest is the only way to access the beautiful
large old house.

The long and winding road - twice I met a car coming towards me. A situation for the brave...

I got to stay in the "Blue Room".

On Wednesday
I was given the keys for the church

and had a little time for myself to figure
out where I would place which quilt.

Then a
technician came to help me with the hanging, temporarily he was joined by a
colleague even.